From Bob's Cluttered Desk

Much has changed since the innocent days of my youth. At the risk of sounding like my grandparents, I am old enough to remember when phones were connected through wires to the wall, and it took about three minutes to dial a number. God help you if you got one of the digits wrong and…

There are only a limited number of ways that a company can show its support for the workers’ compensation industry at a national level. Supporting Kids’ Chance is certainly one of them. Kids’ Chance, as almost everyone in the industry is aware, is an organization that provides scholarships and educational opportunities for children of workers…

The healthcare landscape is undergoing significant changes, with a notable trend being the vertical integration of medical providers. This phenomenon, where hospitals or health systems acquire physician practices, has led to a shift in how medical care is delivered and billed. The presentation at the WCRI Conference in Boston, MA, by Bogdan Savych and Eric…

In the “Day Two Keynote” presentation at the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) Annual Issues and Research Conference, Dr. Constance (Connie) Noonan Hadley, a professor at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, addressed the critical issue of loneliness in the workplace. Her talk highlighted the significant impact of loneliness on both workplace health and productivity,…

In the realm of workers’ compensation, the impact of psychosocial factors on claim outcomes has been a topic of considerable interest and debate. At the WCRI Conference in Boston, MA, a presentation titled “Psychological Risk Factors and Functional Recovery” shed light on this issue. The presenters, Vennela Thumula, a Policy Analyst with WCRI, and Dr.…

In a keynote presentation at the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) Annual Issues and Research Conference, David Cutler, Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics at Harvard University, discussed the current state of healthcare in the United States and his predictions for the future. Cutler highlighted the uncertainty in the healthcare environment, citing factors such as…

The ostensible implosion and suspension this past week of the image generating feature of Google’s newly released Artificial Intelligence offering, Gemini, has furthered suspicions and fears about the potential foibles and threats of the technology. It has been widely reported that Gemini’s’ bias would not allow it to generate images of white people and instead would only…

As March approaches, the anticipation for the 40th Annual WCRI Issues & Research Conference is building among professionals in the workers’ compensation field. Scheduled for March 5-6, 2024, in Boston, MA, this event promises once again to be a cornerstone for those seeking to understand and navigate the complexities within our workers’ compensation systems. And I…

I understand the United States Postal Service has some major challenges. They run 31,330 post office locations in the US, some of them with automatic postage dispensers in actual working order. In 2022, they delivered 127.3 billion pieces of mail. They suspiciously do not report how many pieces are submitted to them, but they do…

Far be it for me to offer two blog posts in a row that reference the entertainment franchise, Star Trek. I am not a “Trekkie nerd” by any stretch of the imagination, although I do enjoy many of the 973 or so series the concept has spawned. Through many episodes there are numerous references and…